Dutchmen fight for Beatles Let it Be tapes; claim wrongful arrest in 2003
Two Dutch Beatles fans are involved in a legal wrangle over their claim to own 504 tapes made during a Beatles recording session in 1969, the Volkskrant reported at the weekend.
The two men say the recordings were illegally taken from them by Dutch and British police 12 years ago and should be returned. They also want €700,000 in damages from the Dutch state in compensation for wrongful arrest.
The tapes feature members of the Beatles composing and in conversation during the Get Back sessions, which became the basis for the film Let it Be. The recordings were made on Nagra tape recorders and are thought to be the basis for a large number of bootlegs.
Stan Snelleman and Jos Remmerwaal say they bought the tapes from former Apple Records worker Nigel Oliver for the equivalent of €36,000 in 1992 after being outbid by Apple for other tapes at a memorabilia auction.
Stan Snelleman and Jos Remmerwaal say they bought the tapes from former Apple Records worker Nigel Oliver for the equivalent of €36,000 in 1992 after being outbid by Apple for other tapes at a memorabilia auction.
12 years later they were caught in police sting when Oliver got in touch again and claimed to have a serious buyer to take the tapes off their hands. In January 2003, Snelleman and Remmerswaal were arrested and charged with money laundering and fencing stolen property. The case against them was formally dropped in 2007.
Source: Dutch News
